Flamenco Song And Dance Come to Siloam Springs

Siloam Springs, Ark (September 12, 2000) - Ronald Radford, a Flamenco guitar virtuoso whose performances have evoked standing ovations on four continents, will appear at the Siloam Springs High School Fine Arts Center on Sunday, Sept. 24 at 3:00 p.m. The concert is free and open to the community.

Radford is one of about a half-dozen concert Flamenco guitarists touring today. A protégé of Carlos Montoya, Radford lived in Spain and traveled thousands of miles immersing himself in the music of Flamenco guitar masters. Radford met Montoya and played for him with the intention of asking for advice about where he should study in Spain. But, Montoya, impressed with his natural talent, instead invited Radford to study with him in New York as a private student. Radford is the only individual ever to be awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in Flamenco.

The New York Times acclaimed Radford’s Carnegie Hall concert as a “winning, charming, informative and expert performance by a young guitarist of talent and enthusiasm!” Radford’s success has now led him to the position of being one of the busiest concert flamenco guitarists in the world, with an extensive record of packed concert halls and standing ovations. “Flamenco is one of the most highly disciplined and complex folk art forms to be found anywhere,” said Radford. “It is structured like a musical kaleidoscope, using song forms of rhythmic patterns rather than specific melodies. The forms serve as a reference point for the individual interpretation, which never sounds quite the same way twice.” Solo Flamenco guitar music, whimsically called “Gypsy jazz,” only came into its own in the late 1930s, when Montoya legitimized it as a separate offshoot of Flamenco singing and dancing.

Tamara La Garbancita will be accompanying Radford with Flamenco dance. Garbancita lived and trained intensively with Andalusian Gypsies in Barcelona, Spain. She studied with the Flamenco dance masters in Madrid and New York including Manola Rivera, Manolete and Vida Peral. In addition to her professional Flamenco dancing internationally, Garbancita has performed in La Traviata, Carmen and Man of La Mancha. A multi-talented performer, Garbancita is on the dance faculty at UMKC in Kansas City.

This is a Heartland Arts Fund program. The Heartland Arts Fund is a collaborative venture of Arts Midwest, Mid-America Arts Alliance, their member state arts agencies (Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin) with primary funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, and support from private contributors. The JBU Lyceum Series also sponsors the performance.

For more information, contact Nancy Netherton at John Brown University at (479) 524-7265.

Note to editors: The Heartland Arts Fund requires paragraph five to be included in any media publication.